Peter Erskine
American jazz drummer
- Jazz
- jazz fusion
- Contemporary
- Denon
- Ah Um
- RCA/Novus
- Passport
- Weather Report
- Steps Ahead
Musical artist
Peter Clark Erskine (born June 5, 1954)[1] is an American jazz drummer who was a member of the jazz fusion groups Weather Report and Steps Ahead.
Early life and education
Erskine was born in Somers Point, New Jersey, U.S.[2] He began playing the drums at the age of four.[1] He graduated from the Interlochen Arts Academy[3] in Michigan, then studied percussion at Indiana University.
Career
His professional music career started in 1972 when he joined the Stan Kenton Orchestra.[3] After four years with Kenton, he joined Maynard Ferguson for two years.[1] In 1978, he joined Weather Report,[3][4] joining Jaco Pastorius in the rhythm section. After four years and five albums with Weather Report and the Jaco Pastorius big band's Word of Mouth, he joined Steps Ahead.[1]
In 1983, he performed on the Antilles Records release Swingrass '83.[5] He toured the US in 1992 with Chick Corea.[4]
Erskine splits his time as a musician and a professor at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California.
He was featured on Kate Bush's 2005 album Aerial, where Erskine teamed with bass player Eberhard Weber. Diana Krall, Eliane Elias, Queen Latifah and Linda Ronstadt, as well as Scottish and Finnish classical orchestras, have had Erskine perform as a featured musician.
In 2011, he appeared on stage at the Royal Opera House, London in the new opera Anna Nicole.[6]
Honors and awards
In 1992, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music from Berklee College of Music.[7]
Personal life
Erskine is married to Mutsuko Erskine. The two have two children, actress and writer Maya Erskine,[8] and film editor and producer Taichi Erskine.[9]
Discography
As leader
| Year recorded | Title | Label | Year released | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982? | Peter Erskine | Contemporary | 1982 | |
| 1986? | Transition | Passport Jazz | 1987 | |
| 1988 | Motion Poet | Denon | 1988 | |
| 1989? | Aurora | Denon | 1989 | |
| 1991 | Sweet Soul | Novus | 1991 | |
| 1992 | You Never Know | ECM | 1993 | |
| 1993 | Time Being | ECM | 1994 | |
| 1995? | History of the Drum | Interworld | 1995 | |
| 1995 | As It Is | ECM | 1996 | |
| 1997? | As The Lounge Art Ensemble, Lava Jazz | Fuzzy Music | 1997 | |
| 1997 | Juni | ECM | 1999 | |
| 1999 | Live at Rocco | Fuzzy Music | 2000 | [2CD] live |
| 2001 | Side Man Blue | Fuzzy Music | 2016 | |
| 2010 | Joy Luck | Fuzzy Music | 2011 | [10] |
| 2015 | Dr. Um | Fuzzy Music | 2016 | |
| 2016? | In Praise of Shadows | Fuzzy Music | 2016 | [11] |
| 2016 | Second Opinion | Fuzzy Music | 2017 | |
| 2017 | Live In Italy | Abeat | 2018 | live in Occhiobello |
| 2018? | On Call | Fuzzy Music | 2018 | [2CD] |
Source:[12]
As co-leader
- 1985: Current Events with John Abercrombie, Marc Johnson (ECM, 1986)
- 1988: John Abercrombie / Marc Johnson / Peter Erskine (ECM, 1989) – live
- 1991: StAR with Jan Garbarek, Miroslav Vitous (ECM, 1991)
- 1994: Traction Avant with Alessandro Galati, Palle Danielsson (Via Veneto, 1995)
- 1995?: From Kenton to Now with Richard Torres (Fuzzy Music, 1995)
- 1996: Jason Salad! with Alessandro Galati, John Patitucci, Bob Sheppard (Via Veneto, 1997)
- 1996: Turnage: Blood on the Floor with John Scofield, Martin Robertson, Peter Rundel (Decca, 1997)
- 1998: Live at the Baked Potato with Dirk K., Jörg Kleutgens (Kalle Fornia, 1998) – live
- 1998: The Hudson Project with John Abercrombie, Bob Mintzer, John Patitucci (Stretch, 2000) – live
- 2000: ELB with Nguyên Lê, Michel Benita (ACT, 2001)
- 2001: Badlands with Alan Pasqua, Dave Carpenter (Fuzzy Music, 2002)
- 2002?: Turnage: Fractured Lines with Evelyn Glennie, Christian Lindberg, Leonard Slatkin (Chandos, 2002)
- 2006: Worth the Wait with Tim Hagans (Fuzzy Music, 2008) – live
- 2008?: Dream Flight with ELB (ACT, 2008)
- 2009?: The Trio Live @ Charlie O's (Fuzzy Music, 2009) – live
- 2009: Scenes from a Dream with Chris Minh Doky, Larry Goldings (Red Dot Music, 2010)
- 2010?: The Interlochen Concert with Alan Pasqua, Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2010) – live
- 2010?: Standards 2: Movie Music with Bob Mintzer, Darek Oleszkiewicz, Alan Pasqua (Fuzzy Music, 2011) – soundtrack
- 2014: Trio M/E/D with Palle Danielsson, Rita Marcotulli (Abeat, 2015) – live
- 2015: How Long Is Now? with Lars Danielsson, Iiro Rantala (ACT, 2016)
- 2019: 3 Nights in L.A. with George Garzone, Alan Pasqua and Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2019)[3CD] – live
- 2021: Live In Italy with Alan Pasqua, Darek Oles (Fuzzy Music, 2022) – live
As a member
- Steps Ahead (Elektra/Musician, 1983)
- Modern Times (Elektra/Musician, 1984)
- Magnetic (Elektra, 1986)
- Holding Together (NYC, 2002)[2CD] – live rec. 1999
As sideman
| With Rez Abbasi
With John Abercrombie
With David Benoit
With Wayne Bergeron
With Warren Bernhardt
With Randy Bernsen
With Chris Botti
With Michael Bublé
With Gary Burton
With Joey Calderazzo
With George Cables
With Alex Cline
With Pino Daniele
With Eddie Daniels
With Yelena Eckemoff
With Eliane Elias
With Maynard Ferguson
With Don Grolnick
With Bob James
With Marc Johnson
With Stan Kenton
With Diana Krall
With Chuck Loeb
With Mike Mainieri
With Vince Mendoza
With Al Di Meola
With Bob Mintzer
With Makoto Ozone
With Alan Pasqua
With Jaco Pastorius
With John Patitucci
With Lee Ritenour
With John Scofield
With Mike Stern
With Sadao Watanabe
With Weather Report
With Kenny Wheeler
Source:[13] | With others
Source:[13] |
Books
- Time Awareness
- The Erskine Method for Drumset
- My Book
- The Drum Perspective
- Drum Concepts and Techniques
- No Beethoven: An Autobiography and Chronicle of Weather Report
DVD
- The Erskine Method for Drumset (Alfred Publishing Company)
References
- ^ a b c d Colin Larkin, ed. (1992). The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz (First ed.). Guinness Publishing. p. 137. ISBN 0-85112-580-8.
- ^ Stewart, Zan (April 25, 1993). "Drummer Discovers Small Is Beautiful". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved November 19, 2013.
Last year, [Peter Erskine], along with bassist John Patitucci, traveled through the United States for a month with a threesome led by pianist Chick Corea. The Somers Point, N. J., native also worked in Italy and Spain as part of pianist Joey Calderazzo's trio, then recorded on the latter's upcoming Blue Note release.
- ^ a b c Wynn, Ron. "Peter Erskine: Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
- ^ a b Wynn, Ron (2008-06-25). "Weather Report: Biography". All About Jazz. Archived from the original on 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2010-06-04.
- ^ "Swingrass '83 - Swingrass | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
- ^ "Anna Nicole Review". The Guardian. 2008-06-25. Retrieved 2011-02-18.
- ^ "Peter Erskine". MEINLPercussion.com. Retrieved 2019-03-09.
- ^ Pressler, Jessica (2019-02-08). "31 Going on 13". Vulture. Retrieved 2019-04-25.
- ^ Rao, Mallika (2019-02-27). "How PEN15's Mutsuko Erskine Wound Up Playing Herself on TV". Vulture. Retrieved 2021-07-03.
- ^ "Joy Luck". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ "In Praise of Shadows". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
- ^ a b "Peter Erskine | Album Discography". AllMusic.
- ^ a b c "Peter Erskine | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 12 March 2019.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Peter Erskine.
- Official website
- Podcast featuring "Joy Luck" by Peter Erskine
- Peter Erskine Interview at NAMM Oral History Collection (2011)
- v
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Peter Erskine
Years given are for the recording(s), not first release, unless stated otherwise.
- You Never Know (1992)
- Time Being (1993)
- As It Is (1995)
- Juni (1997)
- Dr. Um (2016)
- John Abercrombie / Marc Johnson / Peter Erskine (1988)
- The Hudson Project (with John Abercrombie, Bob Mintzer, and John Patitucci, 1998)
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